Zoo Life
by The Shinsengumi Muses
Summary: Trowa gets fired from the circus and gets a job at a zoo. Things get twisted... 1x2, R+1, 3x4


Warnings: RFO, 1x2, lime, OOC,

By: Erin (the one who is _really _responsible for Fuuma's identity crisis) and Emmy

* * *

"And don't come back!" The elderly voice of the circus manager called after the banged clown. The clown walked quietly out of the tent, picking up the bag that had been thrown out before him. The bag contained his personal belongings, the little he had. Catherine hopped to her feet after her superior's outburst, following her little brother. She jogged over to him, suddenly stopping right in front of him. 

"What is it?" Trowa asked the red-head plainly. 

"What are you going to do now that the manager fired you? You knew he wasn't going to put up with your disappearances for long!" Trowa nodded at her comments and walked around his sister. 

"So what are you saying?" 

Catherine had to hop in front of the boy to tell him. "You need another job! You have a life, and you need to pay for the things in it!" Trowa paused a minute, as if thinking, and then sidestepped Catherine. She watched his retreating back, and then threw up her hands and stomped away, she headed off to get ready for the night's performance. 

Trowa continued to walk, stopping only when he reached his truck, parked a few hundred feet from the edge of the circus. Climbing in, he began his drive to the current safe house. The main thing he was thinking about was the fact that his major cover was blown. During the long drive he ran over various other covers in his mind, but none appealed to him. Shrugging, Trowa vowed to figure something out later. He pulled over in a parking lot to spend the night, and promised himself to decide tomorrow. 

As the sun came up, it reflected off giant metal letters that nearly blinded the pilot. "Zoo," was what they said and Trowa began to briefly wonder if it was a coincidence he'd stopped there for the night. Especially when he saw the large letters that read "Now hiring." 

The boy couldn't believe his luck, this was something he could use for cover. He stepped out of the truck to head for the main desk. Waiting in a short line, he finally got to talk to an employee, holding his counterfeit resume tightly in his grasp. The young lady smiled to him and leaned over the desk slightly. 

"May I help you?" She asked sweetly, Trowa raising an eyebrow. He knew the girl, his eyes wondering to the name pinned to her chest. **Dorothy**. Trowa's mind flashed back a couple of weeks to when he's been hiding with Heero. Relena had dropped in, and brought the blonde. If Trowa remembered correctly, she was actually quite crazy. 

"Actually, you can." Trowa replied, returning to the present. "I'm interested in getting a job here." He slipped his resume over to Dorothy. 

"Yokata!" The blonde exclaimed scanning the resume. "If you'll come this way, Mr. Jones, I'll see what we can do for you." Trowa smiled _slightly_ following Dorothy as she stepped around the small counter, and walked into a small building off to the side. Once they reached the building, Dorothy dropped Trowa off, and turned back. Trowa looked to the manager suspiciously. He looked too familiar. "Was Dorothy rude to you?" He asked frankly. Trowa shook his head. 

"She was helpful and perfect courteous." 

He lowered his head slightly, muttering something under his breath, "She must be drunk again." 

Yes, that was certainly the Dorothy that Trowa was accustomed to knowing. "So you're here about the job?" Trowa nodded and let the manager continue. 

"You'll be put through an interview with another employee. He will decide whether you get the job or not." The man gestured to the small room set apart from the others. 

"Deux!" He called so suddenly it caused Trowa to jump up in his standing position. A braided employee hurried into the room. 

"Deux, show Mr. Jones to the room and ask him the interview questions." Deux, more commonly know as Duo, hopped over and to the questions that manager was handing him out. "Let's go, Mr. Jones." They walked in the room and Trowa shut the door. "So Mr. Jones, are you a virgin?" The brunette raised an eyebrow. 

"Are these actually the questions?" 

"Answer it! Mr. Jones!" Trowa sighed as Duo began to hound him even more. 

"You know the answer to that." 

"Huh? How could I? I've never seen you before today. Duh!" Trowa looked at the boy for a minute before answering. 

"No." Duo faked his shock. 

"Nani?! Are you some sort of prostitute or something?!" 

"No." Seeing he wasn't going to get anywhere Duo went on to the next question. 

"Have you ever cheated on your lover?!" The braided employee asked, leaning towards the interviewee. Trowa smirked. 

"Hai." Duo's eyes about popped out of his head, as he about fell back onto the floor. 

"NANI?! YOU cheated on QUATRE?! Who the hell with?!" Duo demanded, poking Trowa in the chest. Trowa smiled once more, as if remembering the wonderful experience. 

"Someone you know quite well." 

"DARE?!" 

"Heero-kun." 

"NANI?!" Duo fell face first onto the desk and Trowa smirked. He was happy with his answer. "YOU SWEAR?! Be careful with your answer! I don't know if I want to give you the job!!" Duo nearly shouted to the banged pilot. "I'll answer you if you give me the job and stop asking these ridiculous question." Duo glared, but his Heero ruled over pride. 

"You got yourself a deal! Now tell me the answer!" Trowa nearly laughed but his nature wouldn't let him. "No. I have never cheated on Quatre when I was with him." 

"What about when you weren't with him?" 

"There wasn't to be any more questioning, now was there, Deux-san." Duo glared and scribbled down a few things on the interview sheet. "Fine. You get the job. Now go clean the animal pens!" Duo explained and Trowa sighed, was that the job he had _really_ applied for? 

"I'll show you around, and one more note. Smile for the kids!" Duo grinned and Trowa shook his head. Duo was his superior, that was just downright pathetic. 

As the two left the small room, the man at the desk smiled when Duo nodded as a signal he'd hired Trowa. "What do you want on your name tag?" The manager asked, and Duo turned to Trowa and smiled. 

"Yes. What do you want on your name tag Mr. Jones?" Trowa did some fast thinking, and came up with a fairly common name. 

"Don." Duo looked at Trowa and, had a hard time containing his smile. 

"All right. Don it is. Now Deux, show him what he's to do." Duo nodded and led Trowa out to his new duties. 

As they walked toward the dirty cages Duo began to laugh. "Don? You couldn't come up with a better name than Don?" Trowa looked at him for a brief second and then turned away. "Jeez. Touchy. Anyway, what're ya doing here? What happened to the circus?" 

"Got fired." Duo stopped in his tracks, and looked at Trowa in actual shock. 

"Fired?!" 

"Yes." 

"You're not lying like you were with the whole Hee-chan thing, right?" Trowa nodded his agreement. "Woah. How the hell did you do that?!" 

"I was gone too much." Was all Trowa offered, and he was lucky. They reached the cages at just that moment, so Duo had to explain the procedure. 

"You'll be responsible for cleaning the seal's, leopard's, panda's, and ostrich's indoor areas today. Tomorrow you'll have others. I hope you have a wonderful time here at The Dremail Zoo!" Trowa nodded, that was what didn't seem right about the manager. It was Duke Dremail. Who knew the representative had a hobby of managing zoos. However, that would also explain why Dorothy was working there. 

"Sou ka." Duo looked at Trowa with amusement. 

"Here are your tools. Have fun." With that Duo handed his friend a snow shovel, a smaller shovel, and a bucket. Then Duo turned and walked out of the area, leaving Trowa all by himself to clean up from the animals. 

* * *

When Duo walked back into the office Duke Dremail was waiting for him. 

"How is he?" 

"Don's fine." 

"What do you have him cleaning?" 

"Leopards, seals, pandas, ostrich cages." The politician nodded as Duo spoke. 

"Good job. You can finish your duties." Duo nodded, and walked into the back, where the employees had lunch breaks. Sitting down, he turned on the TV and waited for something good to come on. Very soon Dorothy joined him in the room and the two sat, eating people's lunches, and watching TV. Dorothy looked to her lunched and nearly gagged. 

"He's been feeding me the same food for the entire time I have worked here! I feel like one of his animals!" She exclaimed but without another word, Duo picked up his sandwich and traded with her a peanut butter one. Dorothy looked to the lettuce, tomato and turkey sandwich and looked back to him. 

"Okay, what do you want from me? Favors don't come cheap." Duo shook his head. "Don't worry! It's just a favor and don't worry about a reward." Dorothy smiled, "Good, I don't plan on repaying it." She took a bite of the sandwich and Duo took a bit of hers. After a moment of watching the news and eating the other person's food, Duke Dremail came waltzing back into the room. 

"Dorothy, guess who is here?" She looked up to her grandfather, resting her head on the side of her hand. "Who?" She asked less than amused. 

"Relena Peacecraft! I want you to assassinate her an-" 

"Relena-sama is here?!" She demanded, jumping up with a gleeful look in her eyes. "Yes she is, with a boy you should know." 

"Who would that be? Winner?" Duke shook his head. 

"Heero Yuy." Duo spat out the Coke he head been drinking, standing up quickly. "Heero?!" Again, the manager was taken aback by his employees. "They are asking for the guided tour and-" 

"I'll do it!" Both of the employees shouted at the same time. "Y-you both can do it..." he said carefully and then fled the room after adding, "You have to meet them at the gate in five minutes!" Dorothy and Duo exchanged glances, evil ones. 

"Do you like Relena?" 

"Do you like Heero?" They nodded at each other and made somewhat of a pact. "Then we have to separate the two!" Dorothy announced and Duo agreed. "Heero's mine!" Duo stated rather loudly. Dorothy sent a sideways glance to the braided employee and shook her head. "Well, let's go!" They didn't bother to finish up their lunches or throw them away, they had other things on their mind. 

The two hurried to the gate, and Duo had the pleasure of Heero actually looking shocked to see him. Duo smiled at Heero, Dorothy doing the same to Relena. 

"Hello! I'm Deux and this is Dorothy and we will be your guides today! If you'll walk right through these gates we can get started." As Duo started to turn he saw Heero look at him and mouth the word 'Deux.' Duo smiled, and mouthed back. 'Later.' 

As the group started off into the zoo Duo fell in step next to Heero, where they could talk. Relena was preoccupied with Dorothy. 

"Deux?" Heero asked quietly, switching from the English he'd been using to his native language. 

Duo shrugged in return. "Yeah, but it's better than Don." 

"Don?" 

"You'll see." Heero looked at Duo as if he'd lost his mind, but Duo just laughed. Turning to Relena, he asked a question aimed at the both of them. "What do you want to see first?" Relena thought about it for a minute before replying. Even then, she checked with Heero to make sure it was okay. Duo seethed at the attention he was giving her, he was jealous and he knew it. He was beyond caring as well. Duo smirked and turned to Heero, still talking to him in Japanese. 

"So do you have yourself a new girlfriend, Heero?" Heero shook his head and said a single word along with a nickname. "Mission, baka." Duo nodded and Relena looked to the two and raised an eyebrow. "Umm, Deux was it?" Her French was terrible but Duo nodded. 

"You look so familiar! Are you sure we haven't met somewhere before?" Duo wanted to laugh, but if the bimbo didn't remember him from the shooting, the rescue, and the basketball game, she didn't deserve to be laughed at. 

"You think of the place, I'll tell ya if I've been there!" She nodded, smiling and Duo wanted to slap her. They led them to the pandas and Duo looked toward the back of the exhibit. "Hey Don!" Heero looked at him and then asked quickly in Japanese, "Who else is here?" Duo shrugged, "That's all I know of now." Heero looked around for a moment and then back to the blonde that was clinging to his arm. "Heero! Aren't the pandas so cute!! I would love to take one home!" Duo smiled slightly and then spoke up. 

"Well in that case, ojousan, come with me and I will show you to a special area of the park!" Duo skipped ahead an in a matter of well directed minutes, they arrived at a game area. One of the games, an accuracy game, was lined up in prize pandas then Duo gestured to. "If your boyfriend can stick three darts into the blue area of the target, you will be able to take one of these cute little, almost life-sized darlings home with you!" 

Relena placed her hands on her hips, "Well, of course Heero can do it! How much is it?" She asked and Duo looked to the man in charge of the game. He held up a hand. "One dolla mon." 

Relena searched her purse, and finally came up with a dollar. "Here you go." The man nodded, and gave the three darts to Relena. Relena in turn gave them to Heero, who just looked at her. 

"Come on, mon. Show ya girl how much ya care." Duo nodded, as did Dorothy. Heero silently picked up the darts and threw them, without aiming. One hit the blue zone, one hit just outside the blue zone, and one didn't even hit the target. 

"Nice aiming, Heero." Duo whispered in Japanese. "You really showed her how much you care." Relena was too busy looking from the target and darts to Heero and back to notice how close they were. 

As Duo leaned in closer he couldn't help himself. He kissed Heero on the neck, and then, realizing what he'd done, his face lost all color and he turned and started to walk away. Relena was completely oblivious, until Heero started after the braided employee. Instead, Heero fished in his pocket and came out with another dollar bill and handed it to the Jamaican man, receiving the darts in exchange. 

"Is dis another for ya lil lady?" Heero shook his head. "This is for the kind tour guide." He shot an unidentifiable look to Duo before he stepped about ten feet away from the desk area, where you were supposed to stand. The Jamaican man nearly fell over. "Are ya gonna thr'w from back dar?" Heero nodded and looked at the target for a second and threw the darts simultaneously until all three were stuck in the blue. Firmly in the blue. The game-handler looked at the dart over and over again, trying to figure out how he'd managed to do _that_. He didn't even think that was humanly possible, especially with the Japanese youth's previous performance. 

The people around the scene looked on, with unbelieving expressions. The man running the game pulled up a panda bear and tossed it over to Duo, after convincing himself that it wasn't a trick. He should have given out two panda bears for that, no one seemed to win them the old fashion way, anyway. "Well hell, ya two should go git married!" The man announced and Duo blushed red as he took the panda, snatching it up from the air. He looked to Heero, still blushing. Dorothy smiled and was about to hand the man a dollar to show Relena-sama how much she cared, but Relena's interest was still focused on Heero. 

"Heero, why is it that you couldn't make it for me, but you could make it all the way back there for him?" Heero tired to smile at Duo, and then turned back to Relena. "Dumb luck." He said and Dorothy ran up behind Relena and handed her the panda. "Here, Relena-sama! It shows that _I _care!" Relena smiled to Dorothy sincerely and then turned back to Heero. 

"That wasn't just dumb luck. You are a lot better than what you showed before!" Heero shrugged. "You got the panda, why are you complaining." Heero looked back around to Duo, who was _still_ blushing. 

"You tried harder for a tour guide slut than your girlfriend!" She cried and Duo turned away to leave, before Heero's mission got shot straight to hell. However, even as he left he could feel the tension in the growing from Relena's last comment.   
  
Relena suddenly found herself a victim of Heero's icy glare. She tried to keep eye contact, but it failed after only a few seconds. Heero stepped closer to her, close enough for only her to hear the words he had to say. 

"Duo is not a slut, and you are not my girlfriend." He growled, and then, not waiting to see her reaction and not caring about it, turned on his heel to look for Duo. 

Relena stared after him. "Duo...?" 

* * *

Duo wandered until he found himself at the back entrance to the panther exhibit. The large cats were his favorite animals in the zoo, they could always cheer him up. Duo decided he definitely needed to be cheered up. He walked up the the panther exhibit and pressed his face to the chained fence, taking a moment to breath. He nonchalantly hugged the panda that was buried up to his chest. He smiled as the panther edged closer. He was in the employee's only area of the exhibit, the one with the gates that led in. 

The large cat he had pet named Kuro rubbed against chain link, trying to rub against the braided boys hand. Duo smiled and reached inside, stroking the fur around her ear. She was a sweetie, even if she had severed one of the employees arms. They had to get it amputated. Duo turned around to hear a pair of footsteps come closer to him. If it was Trowa, he was going to give the boy hell for the fun of it. He needed a bit of cheering up from Relena's sudden down pour of bitchiness. 

Duo nearly fell over when Heero walked up to him. "Uh, hi Heero!" Duo greeted, smiling and showing the panda proudly. "Thanks for the panda!" Heero walked a bit closer, Duo backed into the chain link closer to Kuro then before. "I'm sorry Relena was such a bitch." 

"My words exactly! But don't worry about it! I'm used to it!" He smiled but Heero kept walking closer. Heero opened his mouth to talk and nothing could prepare him for what Heero said next. 

"I'm glad you like the panda. I was going to get you something later, but then the opportunity arouse." 

Duo stared at the other pilot in shock. "_You_ were going to get _me_ something?!" Heero nodded and turned to look at the panther that was getting jealous of the attention she wasn't getting. 

"Who's this?" Heero asked, petting her silky fur calmly. 

Duo smiled. "Kuro. She's a real sweetheart." Duo thought he heard Heero mutter something under his breath, but he wasn't sure. "What was that Heero?" 

"I-it wasn't anything." Duo's interest was caught. "Heero, you don't stutter, what is it?" 

"Nothing, really." 

"No, tell me, I want to know." Heero shook his head and Duo hopped over to him, grabbing his hand to force him physically. "Please?" He pleaded, swinging the pilot's hand back and forth like a jump rope. Heero's hand gripped down on Duo and stopped him from swinging. Taking the hand that he had captured, his rubbed his calloused thumb over the back. "Duo, why did you kiss me?" He asked, that was what he had been meaning to ask for a small portion of time. But the question buried itself much deeper, so it seemed like a much longer time. 

"I-" Duo was at a loss of words. 

"It just seemed right." Heero questioned the answer he received. "'Seemed?'" Heero asked again, squeezing Duo hand. Duo nodded again as Heero took his other hand into his own. "How did it seem right." Duo smiled and let his back fall back voluntarily against the chain link. "It felt right, like this feels right now." Duo leaned up and kissed Heero's lips tenderly. 

However Heero's kiss was a bit more heated and urgent. His tongue trailed along his lip, and then began suck diligently. Heero's hands released Duo's and they moved to his face, cupping the petal-soft skin. Duo's hands fell back to grab the chain link to make sure his knees wouldn't give in. Heero trailed one hand down Duo's chest where it began to fiddle with the button on his pants. Duo kept his grip on the fence, he was going to need it. Heero continued to move and Duo let a small moan escape his parted lips. Heero smiled and began to kiss Duo more hungrily, and more frantically. Kuro decided she was too young to be seeing this kind of thing, so she wandered off to the other side of her enclosure, taking the dropped panda with her. 

Duo moaned once more as Heero stopped working on his pants and reached behind the boy to grab onto his braid. His nimble fingers quickly untied the band and then ran through Duo's beautiful hair. The nimble fingers then returned to the braided boy's clothing. After successfully popping the button and working the zipper down completely, Heero reached into the boy's pants, searching for something in particular. 

Duo moaned as he found it, Heero grinned up against his face, toying with Duo's arousal. There was a knock from the other side of the cage and Heero and Duo's eyes both bolted around. "Tro-" 

"Don." He quickly corrected Heero. The two were frozen and Trowa spoke softly. "Dorothy and Relena took off for some abandon closet and I suggest you do the same. I traded this job with another worker and am glad I did. Here I though I was going to do it so I could be around the panther and feel like I was back home the the circus. You two better get your asses out of here soon." 

Duo looked to Heero, "Abandon closet?" 

"Hurry." Trowa chuckled quietly as the two scampered off and shook his head. He looked over to the panther who ripped the panda's arm off and sighed. He had been surveying Duo for the day because he knew the braided pilot was bound to screw up. He didn't expect him to screw _off_. 

"I wonder if every other day working at the zoo will be this exciting." 

* * *

OWARI 

June 21, 2001   
  



End file.
